


The Origin of the Bat-Bogey Hex

by AmazingGraceless



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bat-Bogey Hex, Gen, Revenge, Sisters suck, duh - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:42:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28051107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmazingGraceless/pseuds/AmazingGraceless
Summary: How Miranda Goshawk invented her and Ginny Weasley’s favorite spell.





	The Origin of the Bat-Bogey Hex

Miranda felt as if she were preparing for war when she left the Charms classroom. Her quill and parchment were her sword and shield— the battle would take place in the brightest corner of the library, at a desk pushed up against the paneled windows.

The librarian, a rather paternal and jolly old man, was passing out mugs of pitch-black coffee to the students that entered. As they neared the Christmas holidays, the teachers for some reason had increased the intensity and frequency of their exams, and the students were running ragged. Indeed, Miranda was not the only student with deep circles under her blue eyes.

"I'll say, Miss Goshawk, your sister is already in the library.— Pperhaps you would like to join her revising group?" The kindly librarian pointed to a table of her older sister and her friends, all sitting around a table and doing more gossiping and studying.

It took all of Miranda's will not to break the mug she was holding.— Hher inability to cast a basic spell to repair the mug if she did break it was the one thing that held her composure together. It wasn't the old man's fault that he was clueless, that he assumed that sisters were kind and friendly with one another.

Miranda chose to blame it on the fairy stories, like _Snow-White and Rose-Red,_ impossibly idyllic fantasies where sisters were friends for life, or some other sickly-sweet nonsense that belonged in a Beatrix Bloxam book.

"I have to revise for Ancient Runes," Miranda lied. "I'm afraid Tangwystl doesn't take that class."

"That's too bad."

The kindly old librarian turned his attention to the next wave of student patrons to greet and hand out sweets and coffees to. That left Miranda free to escape to her quiet corner of the library.

She set up her things, pulling them out of the schoolbag she hung on the back of the tall chair. The arcane textbooks in front of her were her foes — she would take up her battle against them.

She had already been frustrated and exhausted after leaving her Charms lecture. None of this was easy to understand. So much of the textbook was irritatingly coy about the actual incantations, instead burying it in paragraphs and pages of intense theory. The information she sought was hidden in confusing information, and half the time the books seemed to want you to fail in figuring out the incantation.

Miranda might have had an easier time of it if she had not been Sorted into Slytherin, or if she had not had her sisters as her only means of guidance. See, most others were able to circumvent the dense theory of the textbooks by asking older siblings and friends about the real incantations and for tutoring.

In Slytherin, she was the poor half-blood girl, the one who looked shabby and wore her robes second-hand like she was a poor muggleborn or muggle-lover. The exact type of witch the majority of Slytherins despised. Even if there were a few exceptions like the charming little Riddle boy in his first year, a muggleborn wizard with no standing— he was not the rule for the outcasts of Slytherin.

They liked to make a show of fraternity, but in reality they would do anything to push others down so that they could be the ones to succeed. No one in Miranda's House would give her the correct spells.

There had been a time when Miranda had gone to her sisters— but all of her sisters were in Gryffindor and were willing to take advantage of her as a pawn in the centuries-old rivalry between Houses. They were not a resource worth trusting.

Then there was a shift in the Hogwarts library. The overwhelming scent of rose perfume wafted through the air. That was her sister Tangwystl's favorite perfume, as she liked to spill it all over Miranda's clothes. She was coming.

Time slowed down as Tangwystl approached. All Miranda felt was overwhelming rage and frustration. Why did her sisters always insist on butting in, speaking over her, sabotaging her? It was always dismissed by their parents as typical childhood cruelty. But Miranda had never wanted to be cruel— she had just wanted to try and learn the magic her sisters wielded so easily, to try and make her own way.

Time seemed to stop entirely as Miranda wrapped her fingers around her wand. She had made her decision. She would deal with this once and for all. She glanced down at an incantation she'd scribbled down— an attempt at learning the bizarre version of Latin they used for their spells. It wasn't a real spell.— iIt wasn't supposed to be. Just a way of discovering how magic worked.

But what if she was right? What if she had figured it out?

There was only one way to know the truth. And Miranda wasn't going to take it anymore.

"Hey, Mimi."

How Miranda hated that nickname. She still forced herself to smile, the part of her that was so easily quashed at home wanted her to be pleasant and try one more time.

"What are you revising? Need any help? You're so stupid, you know—"

Miranda's eyes narrowed, and she enunciated as clearly as she possibly could.

What happened next was a thing of perverse beauty.

Out of her sister's perfect little pointed nose, swarmed little grayish-green bats made from her bogeys.

Tangwystl screamed and stumbled back, drawing the attention of everyone in the library.

For a moment, Miranda was proud. She had finally figured out the secret to charms that had eluded her. She had cracked the code and created her own spell! She would have to figure out what to name it later, but possible names for her new hex began to dance like sugarplums in her head.

That satisfaction faded as Tangwystl's friends hurried over to her. Already, regret and guilt started to eat at her.

Her sisters had always been cruel, but had she gone too far? Was this a spell that went too far?

Miranda realized in a heartbeat that she had the very same capacity for cruelty as her sisters—and she had given into it. Before the librarian or a professor could come over to investigate, she gathered up her things and fled the library.

She did not stop until she was in her dormitory bed, safe with all the green silk hangings drawn. As she tried to revise again, her mind was plagued with the guilt that she had enjoyed her vindictive moment. That a part of her was so spiteful, it was repulsive and new, and Miranda didn't like it at all.

Before, she had believed in revenge. Now she wasn't sure.

Still, she spotted her experimental incantation on her notes. In spite of everything, she smiled— she wasn't hopeless at magic after all. She could learn, in her own time and with the right explanation of the rules.

Miranda scribbled down with her quill the name of her new hex. She christened it the Bat-Bogey Hex.


End file.
